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  • Open Access

Emulation of large-scale qubit registers with a phase-space approach

Christian de Correc1,2,*, Denis Lacroix1,†, and Corentin Bertrand2,‡

  • *Contact author: c.de-correc@eviden.com
  • †Contact author: lacroix@ijclab.in2p3.fr
  • ‡Contact author: corentin.bertrand@eviden.com
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APS Open Sci. 1, 000017 – Published 4 May, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/swn6-s387

Abstract

A phase-space approach is used and benchmarked for the simulation of the continuous-time evolution of large registers of qubits. It is based on a statistical ensemble of independent mean-field trajectories, where mean field is introduced at the level of the qubits, substituting quantum fluctuations/correlations with classical ones. The approach only involves at worse a quadratic cost in the system size, allowing to simulate up to several thousands of qubits on a classical computer. It provides qualitatively accurate description of one-qubit observables’ evolutions, making it a useful reference in comparison to techniques limited to small qubit numbers. The predictive power is, however, less robust for multiqubit observables. We benchmark the method on the k-local transverse-field Ising model, considering a large variety of systems ranging from local to all-to-all interactions, and from weak to strong coupling regimes, with up to 2000 qubits. To showcase the versatility of the approach, simulations on two-dimensional and three-dimensional Ising models are also made.

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APS Open Sci. 1, 000017– Published 4 May, 2026
Vol. 1
  • Received 17 February 2026
  • Accepted 22 April 2026
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